More Haints of Berrien County

The Columbus Daily Enquirer reported on a “mysterious apparition” that appeared in Berrien County, GA in March of 1879:

The Berrien county News has information of a ghost of some other mysterious apparition. It says: “On last Sunday night, as Captain Austin and Mr. J.A. Slater were returning from church, they beheld a strange phenomenon, in the shape of a ball of fire, about the size of a half bushel measure. When first seen, it was near the earth, and about five or six hundred yards distant from them. It rose rapidly until it attained a height of fifty feet when it took a northerly course and traveled at the rate of about twenty miles an hour. After going in that direction for perhaps a quarter of a mile, it turned suddenly and came back to where it started. When it arrived over the place where it was first seen it began a vibratory motion and continued it a few moments, when it fell to the earth and became extinct. The light from this strange body was of a pale, whitish color. Our informant assures us that, at a distance of six or eight hundred yards, the light from it plainly revealed the rough bark on the pine trees it passed.